09 May 2024 15:41:42
I posted about culture the other day and I honestly believe that has been the biggest contributor to poor performance over the past 10 years.
Since SAF retired the Club has been shambles devoid of any identity, leadership or purpose.
The culture is set at the top and filters down. Recruitment has been a disgrace, managers have been undermined and player power has prospered.
We only have to caste our minds back a couple of years to when Ralph Rangnick was appointed interim manager. His appointment was lauded by many supporters and received with great positivity and optimism, not necessarily because of his coaching ability but more looking forward to his role as advisor.
I clearly remember the first 45 minutes of his reign against Crystal Palace. The pressing, the aggression, the work rate was fantastic and the football was refreshing. Sadly we only experienced this for 45 minutes. He later honestly informed us that the players could not sustain this type of football and he recommended open heart surgery. The rest is history.
Ole was often disrespectfully labelled a PE teacher, criticised for a lack of identity and tactical nous, but If you listened carefully, Ole often expressed in many of his interviews how he wanted his team to be proactive, press from the front and play attacking adventurous football. He got stuck playing counter attacking football to appease the players, that couldn't play with the required intensity or consistency.
Whatever you think of EtH he has attempted to change the style of play and if you agree with it or not there is an argument he has been let down by the Club.
He has not been allowed to remove players and the Club have missed out on several of his first choice players.
How a Club lurches from FdJ to Casemiro only highlights the problems in recruitment.
Whatever you feel about Maguire and Mctominay EtH wanted to remove them both in the summer.
They both refused transfers and the Club had no appetite to move them on.
I think we can all agree, whether you like them both or not, neither are particularly suited to a team that wants to play a high line, press from the front, rotate the ball and retain possession. How can a team progress when the manager is forced to regularly rely on players he knows are not suited to his system?
EtH arrived at the Club with a rotten culture, with incompetent decision makers, useless negotiations, complicated further with the owners putting the Club up for sale.
I don't know if EtH should keep his job, but I believe there is certainly enough mitigation to suggest this is not an easy or straightforward decision.
My hope is that with a footballing structure in place subsequent managers will be better supported and more scrutiny placed on the players to perform consistently otherwise they will be removed from the Club as well as the manager.
09 May 2024 16:36:57
Really good post DLIB, encapsulates my thoughts perfectly.
09 May 2024 18:44:29
I agree with a fair part of that Dlibhere is where we differ in our opinions the most I think.
For me it all comes down to coaching and what's happening on the pitch and training ground.
Technically our players are miles behind the competition.
Physically we are miles behind the competition.
Team shape and having a solid formation and plan we are miles behind the competition.
It does not take 2 years to get players fit. When cas came he was a beast king of the gym ahead of ronaldo.
I can't think of one player that has improved under eth in 2 years in all 3 of those aspects and in the vast majority of cases in any of the 3.
Stylistically casimero and fdj are polls apart 100% agree.
He came into a mess and did well last year but not one single player has improved many have got worse.
Injuries explain some results but it doesn't stop those playing being able to do the basics of control pass move and shape.
Repetition Repetition Repetition that's coaching.
Drill after drill everybody knows the job and can do the basics.
You need your best players to make it sing we all accept that.
Either eth can't get his message across or he can't accept his message is wrong.
Look at the job the new Palace and Bournemouth coaches for example have done.
Palace players double sessions for 6 weeks and are covering more ground are quicker and in tune with their jobs.
Bournemouth have not a squad close to ours yet all their players are improving individually and collectively.
Forget the structure above him forget the past and point out which players eth has improved.
At the end of 2 years what do we see footprint wise of coaching on the pitch.
Leaving aside his ridiculous media statements of
This calendar year we have been OK only losing 4 times
And
We are one of the most entertaining and dynamic teams in the country.
Leaving aside his handling of sancho and ronaldo neither of which reflect well on him notwithstanding both players being way out of line.
Leaving aside all the minus goal difference 8th place, humiliating cl performance.
All that ignored our players are not improving technically physically or tactically after 2 years of his coaching.
Garnacho is to me looking less dangerous by the week. If he has garnacho long enough he will turn him into another Anthony who eth has said is unplayable at times.
Nothing has improved on the pitch it's got worse the longer he is with them.
09 May 2024 19:44:33
I must admit I’m on the fence with eth though what if the players do not have the right attitude and application in training to want to improve. Like dlib says eth may be trying his best but his hands are tied because of the clubs inept ability to get certain players out and the ones in the manager actually wants.
We are Manchester United and we scramble around for frees or loan deals what other top clubs do that.
09 May 2024 19:46:38
Tumble - I fully accept your argument and I can understand your point of view I just think we’ve heard the same argument from a number of different coaches now. None of them have succeeded in implementing a decent style of football and none of them have been able to make them press. To be fair I think we’ve said the same about each manager. We’ve all called them tactical inept and questioned which players they’ve improved?
I accept it’s complicated and I’m certainly not absolving EtH of any responsibility.
My hope is under a new structure and recruitment team there will be a more detailed, methodical and analytical approach to transfers where players are recruited according to how the team wants to play. Hopefully players will no longer be rewarded with lucrative long term contracts, just to protect their value, when in reality this actually makes them unsellable, meaning we’re stuck with unsuitable players for long periods that we can’t get rid of.
I’m cautiously optimistic and have no choice but to trust the new regime to make better decisions. Things can often look bleak but recruit a few good players and things can change pretty quickly in football. Personally I’d stick with the manager but understand those that want a change.
09 May 2024 21:24:41
I don't think things look bleak. I think there is a better outlook than we have had for years. Opportunity knocks imo.
10 May 2024 10:35:18
Two excellent posts there DLIB.
10 May 2024 14:02:11
What would SAF have done qith this team. I imagine half 9f them would never wear the shirt again and would be shipped out quicker than their feet could touch the ground. This is something that the majority of managers have wanted to do to a lot of players but for some reason the people in charge just aren't listening.
Sooner or later we need to stick with a manager and actually let them do their job.